We Nine Weasleys
by The Eclectic Bookworm
Summary: They're a family and they always will be. Written for Morning Lilies' Connect the Weasleys Challenge on HPFC. Rated T just in case.
1. Crash

**So this is for the Connect the Weasleys challenge. The first prompt: Crash.**

**Enjoy!**

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Molly was washing dishes quietly, staring at her favorite plate and the small chip Fred had put into it when he stabbed it with his fork (but oh, he didn't do it on purpose and it wasn't his fault, he was only one) when she heard the loud crash that she knew meant disaster.

She paused for a moment, then there was a loud yell and Percy bolted into the kitchen, sobbing.

"M-mummy...there's b-been an accident...Bill…"

And Molly finally understood, for hadn't she _told _him that the broom was dangerous, too fast for a nine-year-old, for when he was older, and hadn't he given her a sullen stare that she realized now had been blatant refusal to comply?

Her hands shaking, she turned to Percy, praying that he wasn't about to say what she thought he was. "What happened, Percy?"

"He… he f-fell off a br-broom, Mummy, and he isn't getting up."

Molly made a small nose between a cry and a gasp before dropping her favorite plate on the floor and running to the backyard.

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Bill was lying on his back about thirty feet below a lazily drifting broomstick, his leg bent at an odd angle and his face the color of new-fallen snow.

As soon as he saw his mother his face contorted with fear and he attempted to scramble away from what he expected to be coming wrath.

Molly didn't notice this, however. She knelt down next to him, barely containing her panic, and asked him very quietly, "Are you all right?"

Bill shook his head. "I broke my leg, I think."

Very gently, his mother lifted him up and carried him onto the couch in the sitting room, where she told him firmly to stay there.

She cried while she was making the cup of tea, not knowing that her son could hear her clearly, not knowing that he felt an ache of guilt for upsetting her so much that she cried for him and wanted to hide it.

She came out with the cup of tea, suppressing her sobs and handing Bill the cup.

"Thanks, Mum."

Bill sounded remorseful, and he was surprised when his mother wrapped him in a hug.

She let go. "I don't want you to die, all right, darling? Please don't scare me like that again."

"Okay."

He took a sip of the tea. It tasted like sugar cookies and love.

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**Please review!**

**Next prompt: Soft.**

**-The Eclectic Bookworm**


	2. Soft

**I'm probably going to be a slower updater during the weekend, but I'm determined to get through all of the prompts because I have so many ideas!**

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Charlie Weasley walked down the hall to his mother's room, his feet shuffling with exhaustion. He'd been playing Quidditch with Bill all day, and now the sun was setting and it was too late to play anymore.

"What are you doing?" asked Charlie, staring at his mother and her knitting needles, click-clacking until they abruptly stopped and Molly extricated a small pink yarny cloth..

"Oh, these are for your sister," replied Molly without looking up. "They're socks."

"Can you make me some?" her son asked, moving to stare at the small pink socks for little three-year-old feet. "Please? You're using the special soft yarn, I like that yarn."

Molly did look up now, a small smile dancing across her lips. Charlie was going to Hogwarts the next day, and it was obvious he wanted to take some small part of home with him.

He'd always been that sort of boy.

She nodded softly. "They'll have to be pink, though."

"I don't mind," Charlie responded eagerly.

His mother's smile widened. "D'you want to watch me knit, darling?"

"Yes."

Silence except for the click-clack of Molly's needles. The sky grew dark, Charlie knelt next to his mother with his chin on her knee and his eyes halfway closed.

Finally, Molly finished the last sock and carefully lifted Charlie up. He was still in muddy black robes (which she knew she would have to wash the next day) and scuffed, dirty shoes.

She carried him to his bed, gently undressed him and clothed him in pajamas, realizing that after this he'd be too old for these things.

He woke up halfway after he was tucked in bed and she was planting a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"Are my socks done, Mum?"

It wasn't a command, or an imperious question, it was shyly asked by a half-asleep eleven-year-old who wasn't sure he wanted to leave childhood behind yet.

Molly nodded.

"Can I wear them in bed?"

She handed the pink socks to him, and he pulled them on before snuggling under the covers again.

"Goodnight, darling."

"Night."

"I love you, Charlie."

"I love you, Mummy."

It was the last time he would call her that, although neither of them knew it.

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**Hope you enjoyed! As always, reviews are appreciated. Next up: Molly/Percy: Last Dance.**

**-The Eclectic Bookworm**


	3. Last Dance

**Hope you enjoy!**

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"Percy?" Molly reached out timidly.

He didn't look up. He was chopping carrots for the soup, his face tortured and pale (since the news from Mrs. Clearwater one hour ago exactly, he had been the color of paper), tears threatening to spill out of his bespectacled brown eyes.

"Percy, I know this is hard for you." Her hand rested on his arm.

"I didn't know." His voice was raw with emotion. "She didn't tell me anything was off, she told me nothing. She just kind of stopped talking."

"Penelope's going to be fine, Percy."

"How do you know?" he demanded, slamming the knife down on the counter. "Spattergroit is the third most deadly disease in the wizarding world! And Penny has a weak immune system as it is, there's no way she'll survive, she-" He looked like he wanted to cry but couldn't bring himself to.

"Oh, Perce." Very gently, she smoothed a curl of hair from his forehead.

"We went out dancing last night," Percy mumbled, half to himself and half to his mother. "I didn't know-I didn't think she was ill. She was so lively, she was laughing so much. That'll have been our last dance soon enough."

"Don't think like that!" Molly reprimanded him gently. "Don't you dare. She'll pull through-"

'Stop it!" yelled Percy, his voice tortured. "Stop saying that! She won't, she won't, because when I want something badly it never works out! Never! Look what happened when I got too ambitious, started shooting to become Minister, I deserted my family! And if she survives, she'll break up with me, and if she doesn't I'm going to be a shell of myself! Hell, I already am! I already-"

Again, he stopped, unable to cry, paying the price for years spent working on keeping his feelings bottled, years of ignoring the people that he should have cherished.

_Fred._

Two years wasted. Two years he could never get back. Would that he could go back in time and stop Fred from fighting, maybe change this entire bloody mess. Maybe die himself.

Anything but this. Anything but this.

Percy drew in a shuddering breath and Molly took him into her arms. "Oh, my little Percy," she mumbled into his hair as he stooped to bury his face in her shoulder, and he felt a hint of gratitude, in the midst of all his agony, that despite everything his mother understood him better than anyone else.

He replayed that last dance, the way Penny trod on his toes and the way she giggled at his face when the Weird Sisters played a fast song and he couldn't keep up, millions of times during the days that followed.

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Penny died, and he was heartbroken. Penny didn't die, and he couldn't handle his feelings for her. Penny didn't die, and she was afraid of how strong his love for her was. What happened to Penny and Percy? Let's leave that open-ended.

In the end, all paths led to Audrey Leanne Thomas, but there was still a little spot in Percy's heart for one Penelope Clearwater who danced about as well as a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

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**Reviews?**

**-The Eclectic Bookworm.**


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